Electric actuators are generally known. As illustrated in FIG. 1, electric actuators often contain five basic elements: power conversion 200; control power electronics 203; an electric motor as the prime mover 206; mechanical components such as gears, screws and bearings for motion conversion 209; and sensors.
Each of these elements may contribute to the vibration signature of the actuation system. Previous studies have concentrated on the electric motor and the mechanical components as the main focus. These studies have sought to reduce the disturbance at the source by modifying the motor and mechanical components. One result of this work is a permanent magnet motor modeling tool that was developed by Applied Physical Sciences. The use of this tool allowed the designer to identify excitation frequencies within the motor, and thereby modify the motor design to minimize these frequencies. Similarly, the forcing frequencies from the mechanical components could be determined from known kinematics equations.